Show Up or Pay Up

Those who figure on playing the field this Valentine’s Day by making multiple dinner reservations and then deciding at the last minute where to go may have a surprise in store. Or perhaps they’ve already discovered that many Los Angeles restaurants--especially swanky, romantic spots--are asking for a commitment: specifically, a credit card number.

Other restaurants, meanwhile, are going even further by charging guests the full dinner amount in advance.

Asia De Cuba for instance, the trendy dining room at the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood, is charging guests $75 per person, the cost of the five-course, prix-fixe dinner it’s offering, plus 15% service, at the time of the booking. The charge is refundable, however, if the reservation is canceled by Friday.

“It’s to avoid getting burned,” says Mitch Mehr, the restaurant’s food and beverage manager. “It’s to say, if you’re serious and you want to eat here, let us know and you’ll have the time of your life.” But since the restaurant is doing a set menu with dishes not normally offered, “We want to know in advance exactly how much to purchase and how to staff,” he says.

In other words, the restaurant doesn’t want to be stuck with gallons of extra cactus pear, lime and tequila sorbet.

For the last couple of years, Calabasas’ rustic Saddle Peak Lodge, a popular Valentine’s destination offering a $95-per-person, five-course prix-fixe dinner, has faxed would-be diners a simple form. Until it is faxed back, the reservation is not confirmed. In addition to asking for credit card information and a signature, the form spells out the restaurant’s policy: No-shows will be charged $35 per person.

So far the policy seems to have worked. “In the last two years, we’ve had to charge maybe four or five reservations, that is it,” says managing partner Gerhard Tratter. “If people are willing to go with this system and write down the information, they are serious about coming to you.” Tratter says previous no-show rates for holidays had been as high as 30% to 40%.

The policy is absolutely essential, Tratter says, “especially if you’re tight on tables or really sought after. Otherwise you end up with a lot of empty seats.”

Josie, an intimate Santa Monica restaurant known for its eclectic menu, has an even tougher policy. There will be a $25-per-person charge for Valentine’s reservations canceled after noon on Friday. And no-shows will be charged $50 a head.

“I would rather not do this, of course,” says chef/owner Josie Le Balch, echoing many restaurateurs who don’t relish the extra paperwork. But with only 75 seats in the restaurant, to lose even three tables would be disastrous. “I want to stay in business,” she says. “I want a commitment for that night. And for the most part, my customers like to know they have a guarantee. So it works both ways.”

Both Saddle Peak Lodge and Josie were taking credit card information for Valentine’s Day even before the evening’s menus were conceived. This became a hot topic on the Los Angeles message board of the Chowhound.com Web site. Some called Josie “arrogant” and “highhanded.” Others defended the practice, alluding to Angelenos’ infamous flakiness.

“I agree with the guy who said, ‘I’d like to see a menu before I commit to something,’” says Le Balch. “But I’ve had a following for quite a long time. People like my food. It’s not like I’m trying to be snobby.” Besides, she adds, like many chefs, she regularly changes details of her menu according to what’s in the day’s market (beautiful carrots, tired spinach).

There does seem to be at least a loose relationship between a restaurant’s location and whether or not it is requiring credit cards. For instance, Gustav Anders, the acclaimed Scandinavian dining room in Costa Mesa, is taking just names and phone numbers.

“You gotta remember where we are,” says waitress Dana Heuberger. “Orange County is very conservative compared to L.A. If people call to make a reservation, that means they’re actually going to come and dine.

“People in bigger cities get kind of cocky or flighty and say, ‘We’ll go here and we’ll make a reservation.’ And maybe they’ll show and maybe they won’t. And I think they’re a younger crowd. They’re more go with the flow. Up in L.A. it’s more hip. Our clientele is a little older and more conscientious.”

Tratter agrees. “I would definitely say it’s a big-city thing. It has to do with the very busy lives of individuals that are making reservations. Often those people don’t even make their own reservations. They have other people do it.”

Not every upscale Los Angeles restaurant is going the advance credit card route this Valentine’s Day.

John Rucci, food and beverage director at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, home to the sophisticated California-French restaurant Belvedere, says it’s too much paperwork. “It’s the equivalent of a bureaucracy just to go out to dinner.”

Besides, he said, making diners feel like you’re “giving them the honor of spending money in your establishment seems a bit obtrusive, to put it politely.”